Too early to wish for Spring?

I made the most of this weekend. The weather was benign and we had no plans to speak of. Saturday, Edward and I made a very pleasant circuit of Warwick, along Rouncil lane to Beausale, Honily, Temple Balsall (land owned by the Knights Templar as reward for their support of the King in the Crusades. The Knights Templar allegedly found the Holy Grail in Jerusalem and returned it to Britain for safe keeping. I wonder if it could be around here somewhere?), Lapworth, Lowsonford (original home of Fleur de Lys pies!) and finally Shrewley and home. 50km in all in 2 hours dead (which is how we both felt afterwards!). Edward actually finished very brightly which is a credit to him as he hasn’t been out for a while. There was a lot of ice on the roads, in the gutters, so we had to be careful but the cold didn’t make the ride any less enjoyable. We chatted about football, cricket, bikes and other fascinating stuff like that. I have to get these things out of my system so as not to bore Beth to death.

The rest of the day was spent resting and watching football and rugby on TV, oh and the prologue to the Tour of California (well some rest, but then it was Valentine’s day!). Blues won and Wales beat England (I’m strangely drawn to support Wales more fervently the older I get, a trait I’ve seen in my father as he gotten more Welsh the older he is. Must be some genetic Welsh defence mechanism, the call of the valleys, or the sheep). I believe there’s an area of Patagonia where they speak Welsh as their first tongue, I wonder if they feel the same? Beth cooked up a delicious steak and mash dinner for us with champagne. Heaven.

Sunday was warmer but as I set off a soft rain started to fall. I had planned to ride over to my parents in Birmingham, have a cup of tea and return, but the rain made me think twice. I didn’t have any waterproofs, just my trusty Rapha top Beth bought me, but it wasn’t unpleasant. In fact I quite enjoyed the feeling of the water on my face. It was a soft gentle rain that wrapped itself around me, not like the harsh showers we normally get, which make you run for shelter. The shower passed quickly enough and I soon dried out heading into a slight headwind. It’s just over 30km to my parents, nearly all flat, certainly no climbs to speak of and I made it in just over 1 hour.

I absently mindedly took a wrong turn near my parent’s house which meant I ended up taking a short cut through the local park. It was very nostalgic cycling along the park paths. Took me back 30 years or more to long summer days eating fresh cherries by the tennis courts, climbing trees and playing football all day long. I didn’t stay too long because I didn’t want to get too cold. Fortified by tea and chocolate biscuits (do all parents have a supply of chocolate biscuits? It seems to go with the job description) I set off back to Warwick. In contrast to the journey over the weather was warm and the sun was starting to push through the clouds. As I got out of Birmingham into the countryside the sky opened up before me. A startling bleached winter sky of greys and shades of white. High thin cloud (alto stratus?) in every shade of pale, just tinged with the bright blue of the cold heavens beyond. A real pleasure to share with the world (but not for the pheasant corpse I rode over). The journey back was pretty uneventful, although I was tired. The first 20km on the way out I had re-traced our steps (tyres?) from the day before and it was noticeably more difficult on my legs. I spun through it, but returning the same way I felt the dreaded bonk coming on (not a further reference to Valentine ’s Day but a rapid decrease in energy leaving you stricken). I stopped and ate an energy bar just outside Barston and was soon on my way again. This time 65km in 2hrs 20 minutes, a pretty much exact 10% increase in my speed of the day before although I was shattered when I got home. Fortunately Beth’s family came round for tea and cakes (how civilised) to keep me focused, which gave us an opportunity to say thank you for their recent support.
So, Monday I pushed myself to go to spin and to be honest struggled to keep up. I felt I needed to go because Beth goes into hospital tomorrow (Tuesday) to have 2 discs replaced in her back. A big operation and she’ll be off her feet for a while, so who knows how that’ll affect my training because supporting her will obviously be my priority.

All in all though a very satisfying 115km plus spin but I did feel it in my legs. There’s still a way to go to get fit enough for 4 long days in the saddle, especially as I’ve now seen the route profile, but more of that next time.

More encouragingly I’m over half way to my target of £1250 of fundraising. Many thanks to all those people who have supported me to date and if you haven’t I’m sure you will….thanks.